Introducing the Neutral Third Party.
A reaction to the current state of the Union.
The Civil War was fought for civility. The modern war is psychological. Some politicians blatantly lie to their citizens. And they think that they can get away with it by riling up the emotions of their voting citizens over issues that voters personally feel strongly about. They think that this will distract us long enough for them to implement their real plans, thereby gaining more power & money for themselves at the expense of their citizens and world peace & trade.
And they claim that any criticism of them is a conspiracy. They seek to dismantle & remove their critics rather than listen to what they have to say or maturely accept the existence of an opposing view as a necessary check & balance to their power. This is especially problematic in the United States, which was founded on the belief that every citizen is free to speak.
We can speak up to return balance, maturity and civility to United States politics. But what should we say?
Here’s what politics can learn from the art of mediation.
Along with being US civilians and generally civil people, we’re a collective of ethicists and professionally trained mediators. Neutral third parties, if you will. We think that US politics could learn from the art of mediation.
A mediator is brought in to settle the disputes of two parties to avoid escalating a situation to the court system or to the hostile and sometimes violent whims of the two parties. When a great divide comes between two people, the mediator is there to mend the rift or at least create a bridge for safe passageway between the two.
A mediator is driven by the community standards of what’s right and what’s wrong and an internal moral compass that points to some things being inherently bad and to be avoided (murder), and some things being inherently good and to be encouraged (clean air & water).
In United States politics, we have ways to measure modern community standards, and we often tap the US Constitution, US law and the popular opinion of US citizens to take these measurements.
These inputs form our country’s moral & ethical compass that grounds us in maturity & balance. We don’t agree on everything, but we bite our tongue at times because we know that the order of a democratic government is more likely to consistently follow our moral compass than the chaos of anarchy.
As the mediator, you are the neutral third party and must remove all subjective thought, all personal opinions that govern the way you live your life, all personal opinions that you may have about the two parties involved. You must treat them like non-entities and only weigh the issue at hand. In your discussions with them to find common middle ground, you will only find common middle ground if each person gives up something.
The best negotiation happens when each side comes away not entirely happy, but satisfied. For example, if the issue is a cake, and each of the two parties deserves half but wants a bigger piece, one appropriate solution would be to cut the cake straight down the middle and create two options from which each side could walk away with either piece.
So, the neutral third party solves problems by being the quietest, most mature voice in the room. The neutral third party solves problems by rising above two-party tiffs & internal politics.
The neutral third party knows that all of that bickering isn’t going to solve anything.
The neutral third party knows that the problem will only be solved by rising above the politics and instead quietly vocalizing the truths of the collective moral compass and upholds the ethics & laws of the community.
Now, let’s talk about the ideal neutral third party.
The ideal neutral third party would be constantly striving to find the middle ground.
They would have no personal views on any issues. This would free them up to solve an issue based on a set of moral & ethical standards such as those found in the Constitution & law books and those agreed upon by a popular majority of US citizens.
They would not accept donations because they would not want to be influenced by external third parties, which would negatively affect their ability to be the ideal neutral third party.
They would understand and respect that they are not always the experts, and so they would prove & vet a set of non-partisan ethical guidelines and non-partisan independent ethical commissions to guide them and check & balance their power even more than the democratic system already does. And they would do so to uphold the community’s moral compass that it’s be their sworn duty to protect.
They would use a proven, vetted set of ethical standards to solve problems that are a root cause of extreme political divisions, like partisan gerrymandering and campaign finance reform.
Now, let’s talk about the current state of US politics.
Some politicians are already using certain means to win elections, like campagin donations, at the expense of their moral compass. They embrace these donations and are influenced by their donors, hurting their ability to uphold the historical & modern virtues of the United States.
They also let their personal values, beliefs and chance at re-election guide their decisions rather than keeping a focus only on the collective values of the Constitution, law and United States citizens.
They become emotional & hostile like children, solving nothing when their air out their frustrations on the world stage, only deepening the divisions.
They are becoming more radical & extreme every day.
To remove the influence of politicians who would wish us harm, counteract uncivil partisan chaos and rewind the Doomsday Clock, we must become neutral third parties. To remove the influence of politicians who would wish the world harm, we must remove our personal opinions from influencing our vote.
We must become neutral third parties. The alternative is unnecesary unrest & violence.
Here’s how to become a neutral third party.
To become neutral third parties, we must reject donations to maintain the purity of our internal moral compass so that we can more effectively mediate and find common ground in a way that will uphold the historical & modern virtues of the United States.
We must reject & ignore our personal values in order to embrace the collective values of the Constitution, law and United States citizens.
We must keep calm & carry on.
We must become more radically balanced every day, reacting in real time to diffuse the extremes of other parties with maturity & grace.
We must be the adults in the room.
Here’s why this matters.
If we stoop to the level of internal politics and bickering, then we have no chance of solving the large-scale problems or fighting the long-term battle. And we must fight that battle. And we must fight it with peace, empathy, maturity and a sane sense of balance.
In order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, we would like to propose a third party for the United States of America.
The Neutral Third Party.
As a unique collective of neutral, non-partisan citizens who are witnessing what’s happening to the current state of the Union, we think that something like a neutral third party could make sense. What say you, citizens of the free world? Is it time to find that long-lost collective moral compass, hold it up to the light and reignite the flame of the Statue of Liberty? Or is that all a bit much, and should we just stay in bed?
Please share this post and follow @neutral3party on Twitter to show your support. This is simply a concept, a blog post and a Twitter feed right now, but it could be more if you think it makes sense to be more.
